It is frequently desirable to magnetize the tips of screwdriver bits and like tool bits to form at least a temporary magnetic pole on magnetizable elements. This is particularly so with precision screwdrivers which tend to be relatively small and are used to drive relatively small head screws and like fasteners. It is advantageous to at least temporarily magnetize the tips of the driver bits or tool bits to maintain the screwdriver blade or tip within the slot of a screw head or within the cross slots formed within the head of the screw adapted to receive the Phillips screwdriver tip. By magnetizing the tip of the driver bit, and mating screw head, the screw remains attached to the bit tip without the need for the hand tool user to physically hold them together. This allows the screw to be guided through a relatively small bore or channel and moved within a confined space. Sometimes the magnetized tip of the drive bit is used to retrieve a metal item, such as a screw, washer, nail or the like, from an inaccessible place which would otherwise be difficult to reach with anything but a relatively thin shank of a drive bit. Of course, such attachment of a fastener element to the drive bit tip also frees the user's hand for holding or positioning the work into which the fastener is to be driven. In some instances, rather than magnetizing the tip of the drive member bit, the fastener itself is magnetized so that, again, it is attracted to and remains magnetically attached to the driver bit tip in the same way as if the latter had been magnetized.
Conversely, there are instances in which a magnetized driver bit tip is disadvantageous, because it undesirably attracts and attaches to itself various magnetizable elements or components. Under such circumstances, it may be desirable to demagnetize a drive bit tip that had been originally magnetized in order to render same magnetically neutral.
In addition, a tool user requires ready access to a hand tool, such as a drive tool or drill, and to a chuck, as well as to the tool bits and screws. This ready access need is particularly acute where the user is working in a limited access area, and particularly so where the hand tool, tool bits, screws and chuck were separately diversely stored and not immediately accessible. Heretofore tool bits and screws were generally boxed, and it was often inconvenient if not impractical to keep or mount the box immediately adjacent to the work space and the drill. That is, the user would have to leave the work space to find the drill, tool bits and the screws, and then return to the work space. The worker would often have to repeatedly leave the work space when particularly tool bits had to be replaced. Another prior art approach was to keep the tool bits and screws in the pockets of the user, but this had the disadvantage in that the user was not always mindful of which tool bits and screws were in which pocket. The user in retrieving a tool bit from a pocket would not be aware that the wrong tool bit was inadvertently removed until viewing the tool bit after removal.
The art desired a tool bit holder which permitted ready access to the hand tool, the chuck, the tool bits and screws, without the user repeatedly leaving the immediate work space, and further provided positive identification of the tool bits to be selected, all with minimum use of the user's hands. The art also desired work space magnetization and demagnetization of tool bits and fastener elements, with work space stowing of screws and like fastener elements, for reasons previously discussed. The present invention provides a solution to these diverse needs.